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Bowing

I've been reading a lot about the sitting part of Zazen, but I have not seen quite so much about bowing. I have read the section in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind about bowing, and found it interesting. I wonder if anyone else has anything else to offer about it.

I seem to remember that Jundo recorded a teaching about bowing and/or how to do prostrations. For the life of me I cannot find it this morning. If i do I'll post the link. It's in the "Talk & Teaching" section somewhere and would probably be a good start?

We have some "bowing practice", and discussion of the many ways of seeing and "just bowing" bowing, in preparation for our annual retreat ... where there are times of prostrating (Raihai), done in a series or three (Sanpai) ...

Many Westerners don't care for it, because it is not part of our culture generally. We see it as humiliating, embarrassing, somehow "idol worshipping" or undemocratic. I am often asked to whom or what we are bowing ... Is it to some thing, god, place like Mecca, person or effigy?

I answer by saying that there is nothing that's true that is omitted from our bow. We might consider that we're simply bowing to the whole universe, and to ourself and the other people around us … after all, 'All is One'! The hands, palms upwards, are raised in a gesture traditionally symbolic of lifting the Buddha's feet over one's head, but that truly means lifting all things of the universe over one's head. It's appropriate to cultivate an attitude of emptying, letting go, receptivity and gratitude in our bows.

If there is some physical or personal reason not to prostrate, a simple Gassho can be substituted. However, there is greatness in the humility of the prostration.

No less, are we raising something up or ... seen another way ... is the whole world raising us up at the same time?

The Korean Zen folks are very big with the Prostrations, often recommending at least 108 each day.

It is a powerful physical Practice. These days, I usually practice a deep Gassho during our Zazenkai and such. However, I engage in Prostrations also, during our more formal monthly Zazenkai and like times.

Many Tibetans (many Christians pilgrims too) will travel for hundreds of miles, prostrating with each step ...

Bowing/prostrations, are a very powerful practice. They were difficult at first, especially when it involved bowing before another person, but then it became a big relief to do that. A teacher described the practice to me as being like water flowing down to the lowest point, being the lowest point, and giving up and up to everything. Taking the precepts (in the Korean Zen tradition) involved doing many prostrations, culminating in the precept ceremony where the sangha did 500, lead by a very physically fit priest. That was a special effort of devotion to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha... maybe like sowing. Recently I have not been doing much bowing, just sitting then running to deal with the day. I miss it,.. miss the surrender.

Gassho, Daizan.

As a trainee I ask that all comments by me on matters of Dharma be taken with "a grain of salt".

I enjoy the bowing practice, especially full prostrations. It's hard not to feel "grounded" in humility when you are, in fact, on the ground. Bowing to all of you on my lunch break today, as I check in from lovely Newark, NJ.

Bowing is like ...
Hiding a heron in the moonlight
As the Jewel Mirror Samadhi states,
No traces left, image and source touching, meeting, endlessly and selflessly rising

Gassho

T.

PS: i might add that it is also great practice after sitting, allowing a gentle stretch and release of the spine.

I have found the same thing. (Especially since I need to add some more filling to my Zafu).

The idea of bowing is important to me. The selflessness of it all. I've always struggled on the fine line between self deprecation and humility, (If there is such a thing) and I find bowing to be a very honest expression of that humility.

Joe, I just started reading Opening the Hand of Thought and it contains this beautiful poem by Uchiyama Roshi:

Putting my right and left hands together as one, I just bow.
Just bow to become one with Buddha and God.
Just bow to become one with everything I encounter.
Just bow to become one with all the myriad things.
Just bow as life becomes life.

I remember a teisho once about bowing; the paradox of when bowing there should simply just be the bow, and the need for everything to have clear purpose and intent to avoid becoming empty ritualism, thoughtlessly practiced by rote. When I feel the need to think too much, this is what I do.
When I enter the zendo, I recall a story I read years ago, of a fellow way out in some very remote part of the country, who used his seven days vacation every year to travel very far to attend sesshin. This was his one and only opportunity a year to sit with his sangha and meet his teacher face-to-face. I live 10 minutes north of a Zen Center. When I enter the zendo, I recall to mind all of the dedication, sacrifice, and hard work of all of those beings, both known and unknown to me, which gave me this opportunity to practice, and I bow.
When I bow before the Buddha, I am bowing to my Teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha. I am bowing to all of the teachers in my life, those past, present, and those to come. I am bowing to my lineage; the generations of teachers which have transmitted the teachings to me over 2500 years. I bow to my own Buddha nature; the Light unto myself. When I stand before the altar, I recall to mind all of the dedication, sacrifice, and hard work of all of those beings, both known and unknown to me, which turn the Dharma Wheel on my behalf, and I bow.
When I bow to my sangha, I am bowing to my Dharma brothers and sisters, whose wisdom, example, and never failing help has supported my practice through praise and blame, gain and loss, joy and sorrow, without ever once turning their eyes away. When I stand before the sangha, I recall to mind all of the dedication, sacrifice, and hard work of all of those beings, both known and unknown to me, which support my practice without asking anything in return, and I bow.
When I bow to my row, I am am bowing to those to either side of me who sit resolutely through discomfort, doubt, and avalanches of thoughts to attain the Buddha Way. When I stand before my row, I recall to mind all of the dedication, sacrifice, and hard work of all of those beings, both known and unknown to me, which sit not only for the liberation of all beings but for my liberation too, and I bow.
Yes; sometimes I think too much, but this does seem to put my mind in a good place for zazen when I take my seat.
YMMV.

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power
and may people think of befriending one another.